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130 >> Future Water >> Australian Water Management Yearbook
EDUCATION + TRAINING
A >> Future Water >> Australian Water Management Yearbook
EDUCATION + TRAINING
EDUCATION + TRAINING
It’s time for a new approach to workforce
development
Last year, I was commissioned by
Chisholm Institute, a TAFE provider in
Victoria, to conduct national research
into the water training market. After finishing
the development of a vocational education
and training (VET) strategy and framework
for Melbourne Water, and establishing their
apprenticeships and traineeships programs,
I was curious to discover more about the
industry. It had become obvious that there were
challenges and complexities for workforce
development in this niche industry. I was keen
to understand why it has had so many issues
with training over the years.
The research, conducted in late 2016,
involved interviews with more than 50
industry stakeholders who held executive and
leadership positions in water organisations,
associations and government around
Australia. This provided insight into the current
workforce challenges, as well as workforce
development issues, facing the sector.
In addition, previous research was reviewed
that was conducted by the Australian
Water Association (AWA) in 2011 and the
International Centre of Excellence in Water
Resources Management (ICE WaRM) in 2008
around national skills within water. It was
disheartening to discover the same issues:
difficulties with training providers that were
identified in these industry reports remained
unchanged in 2016. The top challenges
are still the lack of local registered training
organisations (RTOs) offering water training;
the cost and distance of training providers;
the fact that training delivery doesn’t deliver
what is expected; the RTO’s responsiveness
and flexibility; and the trainers having sufficient
knowledge of water.
Also highlighted was the need for a strong
talent pipeline, particularly in regional areas.
Leaders raised the question of solving this
through training: could training providers train
water operators so that they are ready when
it comes time for recruitment? Retention is
also a challenge for some as they lose staff
to the mines, which means their turnover
is reasonably high; this impacts the team’s
capability and the depth of experience across
their operations staff.
In addition to these findings, as of June 2016
there was nearly a 60 per cent reduction
in training providers delivering the National
Water Training Package (NWP) across
Australia, which means that it may become
even harder for the water industry to find high-
quality, tailored training programs that target
the capability development requirements of
the organisation.
With the added complexity in water operations
– there are three different qualifications at
Certificate III level and seven different streams
– it can be difficult for RTOs, HR and LD
professionals to select the best program. A
close relationship is required between HR,
As a training provider,
we are operating in a
thin, niche market that is
geographically dispersed
and highly specialised.
Even when dealing with
one organisation with three
trainees for example, all
may have different training
requirements depending
on whether they’re looking
at specialising in treatment,
operations or irrigation
By Lisa Kinross, Head of National Water Centre, Chisholm
501696E_Chisholm I 2283.indd 1
12/4/17 9:40 am